Friendship

Moving creates new opportunities to establish new friendships. Every time we go to the park, my son Harrison meets a new ‘friend’. A couple of little boys we’ve met have actually enjoyed playing with Harrison. It’s definitely been fun to watch, but also heartbreaking because he thinks everyone is his friend even when they’re not or they have to leave.

This got me thinking about the friendship circles we’ve been through in recent years. Moving around and going through divorce has definitely lead me to be a part of different groups through different seasons. Transition from married groups, to single groups, back to married groups, and now with children has definitely brought me full circle. I hope my husband and I are able to impart some friendship wisdom to the kids as they navigate making friends in their new home town.

Be yourself and you’ll find your people. This is a difficult lesson for kids to learn. Do you remember those years where you wanted to please others in order to make friends? That’s what playground experiences are all about, learning how to navigate friendships and becoming themselves. My desire for our kids is to be loved for their exuberant personalities and joy for life.

Sometimes you’ll be friends for a season. You will have friends who come and go based on their life journeys. This lesson has been particularly hard for me with friends moving onto other things in life. Sometimes these friends have been hard to let go of and you have to remember those who are going to stay in your life will make the effort. Hope the kids learn this lesson more effortlessly than me.

You don’t have to be friends with everyone. Social media will tell you differently, but you don’t have to be friends with everyone. There’s the assumption that quantity of friendships means more than quality. There are circles of friends in life – your acquaintances, your friends who know you, and then the 2-3 best friends who truly know you. Those are the friends who have walked life with you. I once attended a women’s conference where she said Jesus had 12 friends and only two were his best friends. My hope is that Harrison and Madelyn would find the 2-3 friends who love them for who they are and willing to walk life events with them.

You are the company you keep. There’s the old adage that you are the company you keep. Putting boundaries into place to make sure you are friends with people of same values is very important. Having gone through boundary setting in my own life, I hope to impart this type of wisdom onto the kids. You will have friends, but you want friends who value the same things as you, and treat you with the respect you deserve. My wish is we are able to impart this wisdom to the kids before they reach the teenage years.

The playground is a great place to meet people and have new experiences. I truly hope as the years pass, we are able to bring these lessons to fruition and help the kids navigate making life-long friends who love them as much as we do.